The 81-year-old man remanded in custody after appearing unrepresented at Hull Crown Court remains locked up after his bail application was adjourned yesterday.

Harry Harrison, who is partially deaf, appeared last week before judge Mettyear, the honorary recorder of Hull, charged with attempted murder in circumstances arising from a neighbour dispute.

Harrison, who had been represented at the police station, was unrepresented in the Crown court, due to action being taken by solicitors refusing to take new Crown court cases in protest over legal aid cuts.

The firm that represented Harrison at the police station, Pepperell’s, agreed to do a bail application pro bono this week, after the judge expressed his anger that Harrison had been left unrepresented.

Senior partner Ben Pepperell told the Gazette that his honour judge Richardson QC adjourned the application at yesterday’s hearing for ‘clarification’ of details given to the court.

The bail application has been re-listed for Thursday. Harrison has been in custody since his arrest on Friday 11 April.

Chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association Bill Waddington said the boycott is ‘going well and beginning to bite’. But a spokeswoman for the court service reported the action has had ‘no significant impact so far’.